Ice makers generally produce ice for the use of consumers, such as in drinks being consumed, for cooling foods or drinks to be consumed and/or for other various purposes. Certain refrigerator appliances include ice makers for producing ice. The ice maker can be positioned within the appliances' freezer chamber and direct ice into an ice bucket where it can be stored within the freezer chamber. Such refrigerator appliances can also include a dispensing system for assisting a user with accessing ice produced by the refrigerator appliances' ice maker. However, the incorporation of ice makers into refrigerator appliance can have drawbacks, such as limits on the amount of ice that can be produced and the reliance on the refrigeration system of the refrigerator appliance to form the ice.
Recently, stand-alone ice makers have been developed. These ice makers are separate from refrigerator appliances and provide independent ice supplies. However, many stand-alone ice makers require a connection to the plumbing of the dwelling where the ice maker resides, in order to have access to a water supply. Additionally, many stand-alone ice makers do not allow for removal of the ice bucket, instead requiring that ice be scooped from the bucket for use. Further, typical stand-alone ice makers are expensive, to the point of being cost-prohibitive to the typical consumer. Still further, filtering of water that is provided (i.e. by a user) to such stand-alone ice makers is desired.
Accordingly, improved stand-alone ice makers are desired in the art. In particular, cost-effective stand-alone ice makers which address various of the above issues would be advantageous.